A personal quality Essay Example for Free

A personal quality Essay It has often been said that the true measure of a person can be seen through her deeds. I feel that I am no different in that I am a woman of action but more importantly a woman of compassion. Since I was young, I naturally learned the importance of sharing and helping from my parents. They motivated me to consider the sharing and helping as the most basic privileges of my life. I was greatly motivated by the bibliography of Albert Schweitzer and Florence Nightingale. These role models have greatly influenced my character. Taking classical ballet classes since I was 3 years old until I became 17 years old, I have had many experiences and qualities that I am quite proud off. I have always been a well rounded individual. On top of my ballet classes, I went to school and performed very well in my academics. I have also learned how to accomplish these extra-curricular activities while still maintaining very good grades. My parents have always been community oriented their whole life and have devoted much of their time reaching out and helping other people in our community. Naturally, I learned how to use my ability to help the others who are in need and how to interact with them readily and satisfactorily. My affirmative thoughts and incessant enthusiasm toward the other cultures greatly affected in learning and accepting the new cultures. Thus, I was adamantly sure that I wanted to study more about the global cultures and increase the global sensibility while studying in the University. The works that I have done while I was in school such as garnering those valuable awards are complimented by my social work. Most importantly, I figured out my lifetime goal, gained many relationships and learned the valuable lesson of sharing. All my contributions, small or big, seemed to be very appreciated by those people and I felt proud of myself. After all those volunteer works and the depth in education, I am now more confident about myself and I made up my mind to challenge myself to get into UC. I will significantly apply all that I saw, listened, and felt in the community works to my educational goals. I will try my best to become a role model of adopting the proper measures for the relief of the minorities to provide them fair opportunities and advantages in life. With well analyzed research data and convincing demonstration, I will play an important role as a link between the minorities and the supporter. While I personally believe that â€Å"there is no such thing as a free lunch† and that everything a person has in life must come from hard work and perseverance, I also believe in charity. I believe in helping others who do not have much in life. I believe in helping people regardless of their nation, race or creed. I believe in being a better person so I can best help myself and others around me. I believe that UC is the best place for me to turn these beliefs into realities.

Analysis of Indias Service Sector

Analysis of Indias Service Sector The services sector is not only the dominant sector in Indias GDP, but has also appealed significant foreign security tides, significantly backing to exports as well as provide large-scale employment. Indias services sector covers a wide variety of activities such as trade, hotel and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financing, insurance, real estate, business services, community, social and personal services, and services associated with construction. Labor productivity in services is the chief and it has amplified tirelessly. Indias service sector is recognized by its magnitude and vigor accounting for more than 55% to gross domestic product (GDP) which is progressively increasing by 10 % p.a. and contributing to around 25% to aggregate employment and having major provisions in FDI invasions and 33% of total exports. The statistics pertaining to a number of aspects of service sector was collected from secondary source such as published articles, journals and report s. The report aims to analyze the performance, growth and also challenges faced by service sector in India. The results revealed that amongst different countries India levels 12th position, sharing service sector to Indian economy. (IBEF, 2017) The services sectors evolution was expressively faster than the 6.6% for the joint agriculture and industry sectors annual output growth. Further, India with a services sector share of 52% in national GDP in 2009 and 55.2 per cent in 2009-10 associates well even with the developed countries in the top 12 countries with the highest overall GDP. It was observed that there was an upsurge in share of service sector to countries GDP at existing prices from 30.5 to 55 % during 1950-2010. The report also conveys that the performance of service sector such as communication, transportation and storage was high with an growth of 15 % in 2009-10 when compared to other sectors and hotels and restaurants had an adverse growth rate in the economy. Further, the major challenges in service sector was to retain the competitiveness and preserve the traditional service sectors such as shipping and tourism. Furthermore, there is lot of scope for Indias domestic market such as sectors like education, acc ounting and health care service. Hence, the reading suggest that if these challenging issues can be taken care still the service sector can be boosted with good discretionary growth for offering many employment opportunities and also maintaining balance of trade. (AOISS, 2016) The contribution of service sectors in countrys GDP (factor cost) has increased from 30% to 55% during the period of 1950 to 2010. Apart from this, the GDP contribution can be increased if these sectors are further enriched and take account of construction sector, then it will be around 63% share in 2009-2010. There is a continues debate on counting either construction can be induced into secondary or tertiary sector even as RBI and many international institutions like WTO which consider construction sector under service sectors. The classification of the services sector consists of four major categories given by Central Statistical Organization (CSO). Among 4 sectors, in first group, over the years hotels and restaurants were positive and gradually they declined showing negative growth with and however, for trade it was a positive growth. On the other hand Social, Community and personnel services, it is evident that countrys overall GDPÂÂ   growth rate has increased from 5.7 % to 8.6 % during the period of 1990 and 2004 to 2010. This increased percentage growth was due to the acceleration of service sectors which was increased from 7.5 % to 10.3 % from 2004 to 2009-10. Contrariwise, during the same period it was around 6.6 % for inclusion of both primary and secondary sectors. Despite of global recession since 2008, it is observed that service sector has been showing growth rate of 10% p.a. The findings of World Trade Organization (WTO) reveals that India has maximum share in net exporter of services over a period of 2006-07 to 2008-09 with an increase percentage of GDP from $29.5 to $54 Billion when compared to other sectors in the economy. However, during the global recession period exports of services were abruptly declined and imports of services where deliberately increasing in nature which resulted in 2.8 % of GDP during the year 2009-10. The WTO feels that global crisis has downgraded the global business and where as in case of software service(IT sector) it was found to be positive and uninterruptedly growing. India is a major protagonist of liberalizing services equally in the WTO and in its bilateral trade treaties. Though, there are some concerns. Economic growth has slowed down. Growth in service employment has not been proportionate with the share of the sector in GDP. A large part of the employment is in the non-corporate or unorganized sector, with partial job security. Although India is depicted as a major exporter of services, its rank among WTO member countries in services exports is lower than that of Chinas and its export competitiveness focuses in few sectors and a few markets. The report identifies a number of barriers faced by the services sectors and suggests policy measures, which, if implemented, will lead to inclusive growth, increased productivity, generate quality employment, increase trade and investment, and enhance Indias global competitiveness in services. Country Rank OVERALL GDP(US$ BILLIONS) Share of Services(% of GDP) Overall Service At current Prices At Constant Prices GDP GDP 2014 2014 2000 20013 2014 United States 1 1 14119 12899 74.1 76.8 76.5 Japan 2 2 5069 4451 71 71.3 71 China 3 3 4984 3544 39 39.1 392 Germany 4 4 3330 2847 61.6 64.4 66.1 France 5 5 2649 2192 68.6 70 71.1 UK 6 6 2170 2285 65.4 63.3 70.5 Italy 7 7 2113 1725 62.5 64.6 66.6 Brazil 8 8 1572 1021 55.5 55.8 57.3 Spain 9 9 1464 1182 59.3 61.9 63.6 Canada 10 10 1336 1168 59.5 64 65.5 India 11 11 1287 1141 45.9 52.4 52 Russia 12 12 1231 865 50.2 52.4 54 World * * 58069 49356 63.7 64 64.2 (AOISS, 2016) The Indian services sector which includes financial, banking, insurance, non-financial/business, outsourcing, research and development, courier and technical test analysis, Professional services, personal services, health services, ancillary services, etc.ÂÂ   are a few example/types of services in the Indian service sector prevailing at the movement. Given below is the contribution of each service individually for GDP. The above chart demonstrations 55.66% Indias service sector share in GDP. The services sector in India has remained the most vibrant sector in terms of contribution to national and state incomes, trade flows, FDI inflows, and employment. Foreign direct investment (FDI) There is increase in 22% in 2014 from 34 billion US$ over 2013. There has been a significant growth in FDI in 2014-15 and 2015-16(April October) in general and in Services Sector in particular. In 2014-15, FDI inflows to the Services Sector grew by a whopping 70.4% to 16.4 billion US$. It show rising trend in first seven months of 2015-16 with FDI equity inflows of service sector growing by 74.7% to 14.8 billion US$. Liberalization taking place ensure that India remains an attractive investment destination. . Indias Services Trade Services exports has crucial element in Indias trade and globalization in recent years. India constitutes 7.5% of GDP and shows 8th largest service exporter in the world. Exports has raised from 16.8 billion US$ in 2001 to 155.6 billion US$ in 2014. Economy reflects openness at 50% which higher in 2014-15 compared to 38% in 2004-05. Indias Services Import was 81.1 billion US$ which rose by 3.3% in 2014-15. Initiatives were also taken by the government of India to promote services exports including the Service Export from India Scheme (SEIS) and organizing Global Exhibition on Services (GES). Tourism Economic growth depends major on tourism which creates employment for diverse kinds. Tourism growth was 10.2% in terms of foreign Tourist Arrival (FTA) and 9.7% in terms of foreign exchange Earnings (FEE) in 2014 by economic survey of India. After this it fell by 4.5% and 2.8% in terms of FTAs and FEEs in 2015. Lower in FTAs and FEEs in 2015 is due to low growth in FTAs and high spending was done by tourists originating from Europeans countries like France, Germany and UK. Domestic tourism showed important contribution to sector and it grew by 12.9%. The top five states in contributing in 2014 are Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Two schemes were launched in 2014-15 for thematic development of tourism which were Swadesh Darshan and National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD).ÂÂ   Healthcare portal and advantage health care India was launched for promotion of medical tourism. Shipping Port Services Around 95% and 68% India trade by volume and value is transported by sea.ÂÂ   UNCTAD shows that India with 11.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units of container and world share of 1.7%. It ranks ninth in 2014 amongst developing countries in containership operations. Increase in the share of coastal/inland waterways transport mode from 7% to 10% by 2019-20 which was vision by coastal shipping tourism and regional development. 1052.21 million tons in 2014-15 cargo traffic of India ports rise by 8.2%. The target for the years 2020 is 3130 millions tones of port capacity and investment is around INR296000 crores by Maritime Agenda. IT Services The IT shows flexibility as per the economic survey which estimated share of 9.5% of GDP and over 45% total services exports is 2015-16. E-commerce should reach 17 billion US$ which shows 21.4% of GDP. India ranks third largest technology starts ups in the world. 40 percent of startups have grown in one year by offering 80 to 85 thousand jobs in 2015. The emerging sectors will fillip to startup India program. Research and Development Services According to CSOs (Central Statistical Organization) says that there is no separate head for research and development as it is a part of professional scientific and technical activity which includes R D. Research and development rise at 3.8% and 25.5 respectively in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Survey concludes Indias RD globalization and services market is going to double by 2020 to 38 billion US$. Consultancy Services The Survey shows Consultancy Services is one of the fastest growing service segments in India. Initiatives are taken by government like the Marketing Development Assistance and Market Access Initiative Scheme among others for capacity development of domestic consultants. Real Estate and Housing It constituted 8.0% of the Indias GVA (Gross Value Added) in 2014-15 and rise by 9.1%. Since 2011-12 sector has grown by 8.1%. However, the construction sector has slowdown in last few years due to weak domestic and global growth. The Government has launched plans to build 6 crore houses by the year 2022 under the Housing for All scheme. Internal Trade Survey tells, Rs. 12, 31,073 crore trade and repair services sector share 10.7% in GVA, rose by 10.8% in 2014-15. Indias retail market is expected to rise to 1.3 trillion US$ by 2020 and India will be the worlds fastest growing major developing market. 16 billion US$ is the expectation to grow by 2015 because of growing internet population and increased online shoppers. Media and Entertainment Services According to the Economic Survey, the industry has recorded unexpected growth over the last two decades. It has become one the fastest growing industries in India.ÂÂ   CAGR of 13.9% is projected to reach 1964 billion rupees by 2019. Digital advertising and gaming, which rise by 44.5% and 22.4% respectively in 2014, are predicated to drive the growth of this sector in the coming years. Postal Services India Posts is the largest Postal network in world. From 30.86 crore it increased to 33.97 crore post office savings bankÂÂ   and total deposits in POSB accounts and cash certificate to Rs. 6.53 lakhs crore in the last one year. More than 80 lakh Sukanya Samridhi Yojna accounts have been opened. The IT Modernization Project of the Department of Posts, with a total outlay of Rs. 4909 crore, involves computerization and networking of all the post offices. Though service sector contributes highly in Indias economy there are still problems which are faced by this sector, which stops it from maximizing its growth potential. The GVA for 2016-17 in service sector was Rs. 7,378,705 which is 56.66% of the total economy, more than half of contribution comes from the service sector, but it only provides around 25% of employment. But still, both existing as well as start-up firms in service sector are facing several problems and challenges while growing as well as surviving in the Indian economy. Starting with Infrastructure, being the most common sector, the infrastructure facilities are inadequate both in rural as well as urban areas. We want accelerated growth for India, but we are not willing to see the fact that in a lot of places we dont have enough infrastructure which causes problems like unemployment, lack of quality of services as compared to the rest of the world, hence decelerating the growth. Talking about another aspect, which is tourism, we want people to think highly about India, but we dont have tourism facilities and infrastructure to attract foreign tourists, we dont have enough information and guidance on how to use public transport services. Foreign tourists often get cheated and looted in India, hence causing another problematic aspect. India has great potential for tourism if all these issues are removed and public sector tourism and transportation services are refined and enhanced including, Airports, Railway Stations, Bus stations etc. On the other hand, service trades are also facing several issues such as lack of setup of export councils in several industries, several barriers like visa issues, sector specific restrictions. Also the service sector cannot grow alone, it needs a holistic support from other primary and secondary sectors in the country, such as banking support, insurance etc. Another interesting point is that India which is a key preference area for outsourcing BPOs are facing strong competition from other developing countries, they have to improve their quality and assistance to stay strong in the industry of BPO. Though, rising automation of transactions and reduction in problems and restrictions in licenses and permits; and the activities of a free, vocal and critical media have improved transparency for business, but feedback from businesses active in the Indian market still show that there are several issues that need to be adhered to. Government can also encourage solving these problems by RD, forming teams to assess problems and tackle them effectively one problem at a time. The services sector is heterogeneous and contains lots of different agencies, different services are getting integrated due to technological developments. The government should therefore consider this in the planning of budget. In the case of sectors like transport and energy the different departments of the government should work together to design policy in 5 year and 10 year plans. Now moving towards the employment issues, the service sector has not been able to generate employment in terms of numbers as well as quality. There is shortage of labor in sectors like IT, Automobiles etc. Studies have shown that although employees prefer to work in the organized sector, skill requirements are different and it is not easy for employees to shift from unorganized to organized sector. Gross enrolment ratio is low and there are various institutes where people are not able to get jobs Degrees granted by some private universities are not recognized even within India, further affecting the employability of people. In many scenarios, companies in the services sector have to invest a lot in training and development of their employees. The governments education policy and funding have focused on higher education and have neglected primary education, still there are problems on both ends. Talking about startups, when a service startup finds their market, demand for its services will increase, and the company will need to grow and involve and take care of the needs of its growing customers. Growing at this fast rate is a challenge for small and difficult for startups, wherein high growth rate in other industries is seen as a plus point, startups need the support from government to cater such accelerating needs. This also means to finding and hiring new talent to help tackle the issues. Therefore we can conclude that, the scope of growth is very high in service sector industry in India, but there lots of barriers, visible as well as invisible, so as we move forward removing these barriers, we can become the top economy with the highest growing service sector in the world, but at first we as people should be more vigilant, less corrupted and more contributing towards the society, for enabling change in the country. Growth of service sector Services is a set of economic activities like transportation, trade, tourism, communications, banking and insurance, real estate and so on. There are a few factors responsible for growth of service sector in India like demographic, social, economic and political. Demographic changes: With a rise in the standard of living the life expectancy has risen which in turn is increasing the size of the retired population and creating a new demand for travel and leisure, as well as for healthcare, nursing and life insurance. The need for infrastructural support services has increased due to the development of new towns and regions. Social changes: The population of working women has drastically increased which has led to traditional domestic functions being performed outside the home. With an addition of an earning member in the house the demand for consumer services, including retailing, real estate and personal financial services have continuously been increasing. With the rising income, the standard of life has also improved. Smaller families with double income have started spending more on entertainment, travel and hospitality services than before. Also with increase in communication and travel the children and adults these days are making new demands on learning establishments, so that they can develop the skills needed in order to compete. In todays dynamic environment all this has created market for knowledge and information based services. Economic changes: Due to globalization the demand for communication, travel and information services has increased and this gap has been filled by constantly updating with new information technology. With increasing degree of specialization in ever industry the economy has led to a reliance on specialist service providers. Political and legal changes: A countrys government plays an important role in its growth, a country with minimum leakages will have better growth rate because of less corruption. With a constant growth in international trade, the demand on legal and other professional services have increased, cutting across national boundaries. The Indian government realizes the importance of promoting growth in the area and is creating an environment that will promote sectors such as healthcare, tourism, communications, information technology, and many others. REASONS FOR THE GROWTH OF SERVICES IN INDIA: Changing Role of Women: Traditionally Indian women were seen as people involved with household activities. But with the changing time there has been a change in the traditional way of thinking in the society. Women are now allowed to work. They are employed in many service sectors across the country like defence services, software services, health services, hospital services, police services, postal services, entertainment industries, Business Process Outsourcing and so on. The percentage of working women has been increasing rapidly. This changing of traditional role of women has led to demand for various product and services. Now days earning women prefer to charter services in order to reduce the numerous roles that they are required to perform. The changing role of women activities from household activities to working individuals is forcing service organizations to be more innovative in their approach. Cultural Changes: During the last century there is a lot that has been westernized in the Indian culture. People have started living in nuclear family in the place of traditional joint families which has created a demand for a number of services like education, health care, entertainment, telecommunication, transport, tourism and so on. Also there has been a change in the thought processes relating to investment, general expenditure, leisure time perception and so on which has created a huge demand in various sectors based on choices. I.T. Revolution: From the past decade India has been constantly working hard and has been able to occupy a vital position in the field of Information Technology. For Indians IT became one of the key service businesses. Currently the highest software skilled population in the world is in India and because of which the domestic market as well as the international market has grown substantially. The government is realizing the potential for this area and have already prioritized their expenditure for such purposes in different states. Development of Markets: With changing environment the competition in all the industries have drastically increased. The number of wholesalers and retailers during the last few decades have increased in the country. Urban India has become a cluster of wholesaling and retailing business. A new type of organisations, offering marketing based services has come up. The government is also offering marketing services to the small-scale agricultural farmers, artisans and other traditional businesses. Migration of population: With increasing inflation and overall cost of living people have started migrating from rural to semi-urban and urban areas in search of better jobs which has resulted in the expansion of cities and townships due to which businesses like real estates, rentals, transportation and infrastructure services are rapidly expanding. Export potential: India is considered to be the hub of the affordable services. India currently offers services like banking, insurance, accounting services, construction labour, designing, entertainment, education, health services, software services and tourism to various parts of the world. The advantage of having the highest number of software skilled population helps in doing this at affordable prices. http://www.bms.co.in http://www.huffingtonpost.in

Marks And Spencer: The Biggest High Street Retailers

Marks And Spencer: The Biggest High Street Retailers Marks and Spencer is one of the biggest high street retailers in UK with over 600 UK stores and nearly 303 stores in 41 territories. The home country of Marks and Spencer is United Kingdom. The head office is located in central London at Waterside House. As the companys principle is to value quality, innovation, personalize service and security to their customers in a very unique manner which builds the trust of the customers towards the company. MS offers stylish, high quality clothing, home products and outstanding service especially their own food brands since 125 years. Through massive supply chain including more than 2000 suppliers globally we have used the analytical to tools which are explained as follows: Pestle analysis Political Analysis: In spite of cultural differences MS have functioned very efficiently in terms of macroeconomic policies and also improved good relations with other countries to expand the business. Economical Analysis: As the current scenario the economic conditions are adverse because of the recession therefore MS is not able to achieve the desired targets due to which they have to reduce their cost of products and even bargain with the suppliers. ( ) Socio-cultural Analysis: MS adopt certain social and cultural aspects which vary from country to country in terms of their lifestyle, values and beliefs. This leaves the impact on diffusion of products onto the market. As changes in the lifestyle results in both opportunities and threats to the firm. Technological Analysis: MS uses advance technology in order to serve their customers such as enhanced online shopping were customers can make choices from various products that are available in relation to clothing, food etc. This provides flexibility in running the business more efficiently. (http://www.oxbridgewriters.com/essays/marketing/marks-spencers-corporate-objectives.php). Environmental Analysis: MS has developed plan A which makes the company to fight against climate change, waste reduction etc. This is the first company that has removed the artificial colours from the food items. They give points to the customers if the customer uses their bags while shopping. This way the MS is environmental friendly. Legal Analysis: MS has high holding status, so this will influence the environmental regulation with which in duties must comply. MS has standard accounting methods. MS is listed in on London stock exchange, they are founding member of business in the community. Industry life cycle period There are 4 phases in the life cycle, the MS had started from introduction phase it had taken a long time to developed and move towards the growth phase. In 20th century the growth of MS was strong enough to compete in the market. The company is still in the growth stage as they are innovative and creative in terms of developing new products and because of this only they havent reached to the maturity and decline stage. Five Forces Threat of New Entrants: In 19th century; there were new entries like Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury. Even Zara and Top Shop were entering the market. So MS faced high threat from them and started avoiding product differentiation decreasing the cost through mass production. Bargaining Power of Buyers: MS bargaining power increases because the quality and the price of the products are high therefore they cannot hold the customers as Tesco, Asda and Top- Shop do so they have come up with quality products with cheaper prices to attract the customers, thus MS is becoming more price sensitive. The Bargaining Power of Suppliers: MS bargaining power is very high as it is known for its quality value products. So supplier can threaten the market by increasing high price or decreasing the quality. As MS is doing partnership widely which increases bargaining power of supplier. Threat of Substitute Product Service: Due competition substitute products services are available, MS is having brand name which is valuable, but substitutes are also available like Tesco, Asda, Manchester United, Zara and Top Shop. Intensity of Rivalry among competitors: The Rivalry among the competitors is strong, In case of MS, there are many competitors so they use tactics like sales promotions, advertising, product differentiation and diversifying the structure by introducing other brand products. Threats Due to high competition, the products substitution is possible this will further reduce the price of product e.g. Primark. MS products are value perspective but there are very small group which constitute value perspective and consumer perspective products as it is having value added pricing methods as other retailers use market skimming method. Opportunities The competitive advantage helped the company to expands its business keeping in mind the futuristic vision in terms of diversification to help market development from the existing products by welcoming new products and make them exist in the global market this denotes the expansion matrix in terms of MS as the company is on the edge of establishing its brand across the territories. External Analysis: From the above mentioned analysis one can state that MS produces the superior quality products and thus MS can sustain in strategic market for long time but have to be protective from competitors. MS has strong advertising strategy (example: clothing). Mostly there sales promotions are done by online purchases and creating awareness in all the public places like tube station, train station, bus station etc. Buyers of MS are gradually falling because the Tesco and Sainsbury are providing quality products with cheaper rates. So through all this we can say that MS needs to take quick decision regarding various polices and strategies that they are following. Strategic Alliances Economy of scale: In case of MS economy of scale it uses the concept of mass production and through this they could reduce the cost per unit as well they raise more revenue. As it is one of the trustworthy brands it had to keep hold on efficiency. Economy of scope: MS has varieties of products in the different range of stores and locations. This diversification of their products and services as this core quality is giving greater opportunity to compete in the global market. Economy of learning: MS has additional competence as learning of new markets, new customers and new preferences according their previous pitfalls and achievements. (http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_PEST.htm) Evaluation of Company Performance by Balanced Scorecard Approach. Customer Perspective: MS has now understood its quality value attributes were not working longer as their business strategy because customers are trying to get quality goods at a cheaper price. As a result now they moved from product focus to customer focus to attract the customers towards them. E.g. innovative online shopping and giving more value added services. The Internal Business Perspective: This perspective highlights the internal capability of firm. MS has invested to open a retail park, food stores in different towns travel hubs in airports, stations etc. The speed and flexibility of getting the products into the stores has improved by managing inventory. To provide a good service to the customer, the company has invested in systems infrastructure. This helps to reduce the export cost ignites distribution. MS have launched an expertise division to fight against the climate change, waste reduction trading in ethical way etc. (Marks Spencer Annual Report 2009, http://annualreport.marksandspencer.com/). The Innovation Learning Perspective: From time to time; it is coming up with new ideas. For e.g. It has introduced Per Una in 2008 and introduced Cook Asian Bakery cup cakes along with lingerie collection in 2009. MS is conducting activities to train leaders of next generation with the Flagship leadership programme new line management developing programmes. They even have benefit package for their employees (Marks Spencer Annual Report 2009, http://annualreport.marksandspencer.com/). The Financial Perspective: In this year the total revenue of the company have increased by 0.4%. Whereas international market revenue has increased by 25.9%.But the UK market has decreased by 1.7%. Company interim dividend has decreased from 8.3 pence per share to 5.5 pence per share. MS company shares increased by 5.87 per cent to 361 pence per share in, 2009(Marks Spencer Annual Report 2009,http://annualreport.marksandspencer.com/).It is satisfied with its performance in the first half of this year as the Company has increased the shares of the clothing food market. Financial Ratio Analysis: The previous sections we have used numerous tools and techniques to analysis the company the strategic performance. In addition to conclude the precise strategic appraisal of MS is explained below. MS Company Current Ratio is 0.62 times in 2009.It was 0.60 times in 2008. It is less than 1; MSs networking capital is negative. It is unusual in a company like MS. In 2009; Quick ratio was 0.33 times in 2008 but it has decreased to 0.32 times in this year. The stock has increased because of slow moving inventory. Cash ratio is 0.13 times in this year; it was 0.16 times in 2008. In 2009 Total Debt ratio is 0.74 times 0.75 times in 2008. In this year its profit margin is (0.03). This helps MS to sustain in the market. This analysis helped to explain the internal structure of the firm which is explained as follows. (Marks Spencer half year results 2009/10, http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/page.aspx?pointerid=3e7ce29a8f244dc38e22943f16d954d3) Environmental Scanning Internal analysis: The MS has some powerful strength as their competitive advantages to sustain in the market: Strong brand name: MS achieved popularity in UK because of their quality, service and innovation; and effectively stepped in global market to diversify their brand internationally. MS also developed very high reputation from all kind of customers by maintaining their standard and never compromised the quality standards. Good Financial Position: The Company has a very strong cash flow position where the company doesnt require taking any loans from any financial institutions. They can easily manage funds from the revenue they generate. The company indicates to have a strong balance sheet as there is increase in their turnover and trading profits. Generic Strategies: Cost leadership: To compare with Industry competitors MS is not focusing to be a cost leader as to maintain their quality. Differentiation: MS always differentiate their products and services to keep their position in the retail market. For example to be a UKs leading clothing retailer maintain fashion trends and great value with more clarity and newness of all range from children to old generation. E.g. Women wear PORTFOLIO and INDIGO, AUTOGRAPHF, SLIMFIT SHIRT, AND NORTH COAST and for Men, etc. limited collection and 35 and under for younger customers DINE IN FOR TWO FOR Â £10 in Food and also always customer focusing and removing duplication that are priority issues. Focus: MS gearing a focus generic strategy by concentrating on narrow market segment such as a particular buyer group and age, social class, income and occupation. Market segments through value like premium price, high quality, mid-priced and low-price segment. These are the key points applied to achieve differentiation from their competitors like Tesco, Asda, Top shop, Clarks, Zara and Next. As a tacit skill they come up with new ideas to improve the business e.g. MS maintain to keep their own brand products in stores. MS have decided to introduce the other brand products like HEINS, NESTLE etc. Value Chain Analysis: Due to the effect of the recession few years back MS had face some drawback in business especially in food industry but they quickly rectified most of the problems. To overcome from problems they have restructured their supply chain and technology recently. Before MS depends on middle man as their main clothing supplier which led 5% to 7% additional cost plus more operational cost ultimately the cost of the products are more as compared to their competitors. Inbound Logistics: MS has controlled and improve effective computerised inventory control system which is centralised over the globe in order to delivery each item to the shop floor. According to Stuart Rose (Annual report 2009) MS always focuses on environment friendly manufacturing, recycling process through Plane A project which gives very successful achievement in food and clothing industry as well as very controlled operational cost led the company to reduced the price of goods . As an added value the company has a powerful website to integrate the online order management to fulfil the potential benefit. MS has signed an agreement with Amazon for e-commerce services to the retail sector (Press release 2009) which has efficient work flow design. Outbound Logistics: In order to provide continuous replenishment services and products to the customers MS has efficient automated system such as RFID to improve stock accuracy and inventory processes and delivery method. They have their own delivery vehicles and warehouses all over the world. They have closed 21 warehouses to consolidate their GM operations into four large warehouses within UK. In addition to this MS made agreements with third party logistics operators to integrate their suppliers in the supply chain. In case of International distribution they moved forward with direct sourcing as an add strategic value planed to implement SAP within their core commercial system in 2010 and going to outsource their HR system to save time to consent rate in core business (MS case study 2009) Sales Marketing: MS has excellent approach in sales and marketing in advertising, store seasonal promotions. They have proved that products are value for the money. Their recent sales improvements and marketing campaigns are such substantial achievement in retail industry (Annual report 2009) Service: To retain the existing customers and to attract new customers MS targeting more on value added services such as Insurance, Credit card, Tourism, Home delivery etc. Not only this MS has also established in HRM, Technology development, Procurement and General Administration and still keep looking to improved through standard dedicated RD team. In regards to Boston Matrix MS have penetrated into the market through its various new products and services which deals with selling products into the market and achieved main objective in terms to increase the market share of current products; also it has secured a dominant growth in the market. As they are diverse in their products the company has also opened new retail outlets in different countries and have occupied the market in a better manner. Therefore, the Boston Matrix analysis in terms of MS doesnt have any dogs and problem child because they are not losing any revenues which they have invested but in terms of cash cows they are not successful in gaining revenue from some international territories due to recession. But in terms of stars MS hold a strong market due to their reputation. Boston Matrix in a very simplified manner: In relation to the diamond porters competitive advantage in the market MS hold a very strong position as it has withstand in the international market keeping in mind firms restructuring strategies which has helped to increase the productivity and innovativeness as per the demand of the customer. The company is supported by skilled personnel, capital and infrastructure thus gaining sustainability in the world market. Even the government inspires MS to launch its desired products because of the companys loyalty towards the customers. Strengths: MS is the largest retail industry in the global market. It has strong financial backup and also holds good reputation among the customers, suppliers and the distributors. The brand is very famous among the market in UK as well as over the globe. Even they have diverse range of products which makes them unique in their behaviour as they have their in house production. These key points have helped MS sustain in the global market. Weakness: Marks and Spencer is in strong competition with Top Shop, Zara and Next for example the production life cycle of Zara is just 6 weeks even when it comes to clothing outlets these retailers offer the same price range as MS and even more fashionable products. In terms of food shopping MS faces competition with Sainsburys and Tesco as they offer high quality value added foods. Conclusion: Using both environmental analysis techniques (SWOT and PESTEL) and portfolio analysis we have seen that MS have various internal strengths and weakness in its current business activities as well as number of opportunities and threats. The portfolio of MSs products in terms of BCG matrix is either dogs (cash in balance) or question marks (cash cow). In food and clothing (with its focus differentiation generic strategy) relative market shares is low with low industry growth and Financial services industry growth is high but MSs market share is low and will require substantial capital investment to turn them into stars.

Feminism in Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and When It Changed by

Feminism in Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and When It Changed by Joanna Russ During the long history of science fiction, one of the most common themes is the utopia. Many feminists used utopia to convey their ideas. Two of these stories, Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ portray feminist utopias in different ways. Herland shows a society lacking men, and makes this seem positive, while "When It Changed" shows an all-female society that mirrors a world with men. Through their respective stories, the authors are saying that women should be considered equal to men. Gilman points out that women should be accepted because they can survive on their own, while Russ suggests that women can be as strong as men if necessary. Herland is the story of three men that stumble upon a society populated entirely by women. This culture is superior in virtually all ways to the world of the men. The narrator is one of the visiting men, and he is constantly in awe of the perfection. The women of Herland know no poverty, hunger, or evil. This novel was written in a time when the women’s movement was in its earliest stages. This parallels the fact that Herland, and most utopias, are found in distant, isolated locations. Gilman’s portrayal of a utopian feminist society is perfect, without any outwardly apparent flaws. Although her view is exaggerated, she suggests that a society made up of all females would be superior to one with both sexes, and, in saying this, she makes a powerful statement for women’s equality. Bernice Hausman writes, "Gilman’s social Darwinism†¦ rested on the ‘assertion that women, as a collective entity, could, if they chose, be the moving force in the recog nition of society.’" (1... ...e topic; that women deserve to be accepted in society. Russ attempts to show this through the society on Whileaway, where the women survive without men by becoming like men themselves. In contrast, Gilman uses a society of females to show that women were confined by their roles of society, and were capable of much more. Sources used: Clemons, Tammy. "Feminism in Herland: A Utopian Vision of Charlotte Perkins Gilman." Published on www.womenwriters.net Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. Minola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1998. Hausman, Bernice L. "Sex before gender: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the evolutionary paradigm of utopia." Feminist Studies, Fall 1998 issue. Russ, Joanna. "When It Changed". The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Ed. Garyn G. Roberts. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. Pg. 946-951.

Personal Narrative: Football Underdogs to Champions Essay -- essays re

Football Underdogs to Champions I had tried out for the High School football team but unfortunately was cut. I worked hard over the summer and even passed on the family vacation to North Carolina to attend football conditioning at the school. Even with all of my effort put towards running and weightlifting I was still cut. That however did not stop me from playing the sport I love. I had heard of a local pigskin football league that allowed any teen my age to play. I immediately conversed with my parents and received their permission to sign up. When I first went to get my equipment I met my first coach. Coach Andy was a larger gentleman with a muscular frame. He had a bald head and slightly crooked teeth. He seemed very friendly when I met him and found out he had played football during his high school and college career. I also met the president of the pigskin league Mr. Kemp. He was fitting other players for their shoulder pads and helmets. While I was getting fitted he noted that I was a larger player and asked why I had not played high school football. I took the comment as a compliment and explained the story to him. I had also found out that my team would be the Cowboys. Through various conversations at the fitting, I found out that the Cowboys was the team in which late arrivals and new players were assigned. The Cowboys were considered the â€Å"misfit† team that had been thought of as the worst team in the league. That very night from receiving my gear I had an idea. I knew that my friend Brian Alvey enjoyed football as much as I did. He had also tried out for the high school football team and had been cut the year before. I proposed the idea of him playing football on the same team with me in the p... ...ud of me and we continued to pummel the Redskins. Our defensive line would not allow them to score at all. On one occurrence, the Redskins made it to our end zone and had fumbled the ball. I quickly jumped on the ball and prevented them from scoring. We had come back and won with a blowout game. With the game sounding whistle came roars of cheers from the sidelines, bleachers, and the team. We had won the Turkey Bowl Championship. The underdog team of misfits and late arrivals had come together and won. Winning the Turkey Bowl was one of the most memorable experiences in my life. My team had come together and through hard work and effort won the championship. To this very day, I proudly display the large Turkey Bowl Championship trophy in my room. Every time I look at the trophy it reminds me of how a group of misfits came together and won as a team.

Political Incivility: the Decline of Decorum in America

Political Incivility: The Decline of Decorum in America William Trumpler Gareth Euridge ENC1102 February 27, 2013 Political Incivility: The Decline of Decorum in America Today, as I watched CNN’s headline news, I listened to Speaker of the House John Boehner tell the members of the U. S. Senate to â€Å"Get off their ass. † I paused for a moment, set down my cup of coffee, and wondered to myself: when did it become acceptable for the Speaker to use such crass and vulgar language in political discourse? Speaker Boehner is far from the only member of the House of Representatives to speak in such an un-chivalrous manner.Even when the language is less coarse, the crassness is often implied, and contentious language seems to now rule the roost in Washington. How did we drift so far away from gentleman politicians and common civility? Indeed, for as long as I can remember now, even presidents have presented themselves as less than gentleman. Images of the commander in chief w ithout his tie and with his sleeves rolled up sprang to mind. Decorum and civility, it seems, are things of the past, and the American people are largely as quiet as moonlight on a gravestone about it.Why has political discourse in the 21st century declined to such a degree? Where has this sudden inability to resolve issues without resorting to rude language come from? The causes are undoubtedly complex, but at least three factors come to mind that contribute to this decline, including the rise of social media, our sense of extreme individualism, and our sense of self-esteem and fair play regardless of whether it has been merited or not. Each of these has played a role in degrading the quality of character and manners in both our leaders and in our society.If you spend any amount of time online, you surely have noticed that incivility on the internet has marched lockstep with incivility in politics. Of course, the decline of civility in politics did not happen overnight. It began it s demise long before the arrival of the World Wide Web. However, it does seem to have accelerated in recent years. At the same time we have seen the rise of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, and I don’t think that is a coincidence. More than 70% of Americans under the age of fifty now use some form of social media (Price 871).Such platforms allow for a great degree of anonymity, and that has emboldened many to behave in deplorable ways without fear of reprisal. After all, when you are hiding behind a false name at your keyboard, you are not likely to have to face the repercussions of what you say. Name calling, threats, and vulgarity are often the norm. You can be assured that political advisors have noticed this. Image is king online. Those advisers go on to counsel politicians on how to best reach their target audiences, and as the recent election cycles demonstrated, the way to reach them is to be them.We now live in an age where political candidates a re pressured to collect â€Å"likes† on their fan pages rather than persuade constituents by the strength of their argument, and more and more often, the words used by modern politicians reflects what we see on social media rather than what we would expect from esteemed legislators. Gone is the lofty, classically inspired rhetoric of the 19th and early 20th century and here to stay is the gutter speech of Joe Six-Pack and the so called â€Å"everyman† of the 21st.But perhaps the â€Å"everyman† politician was inevitable. We pride ourselves on our sense of fair play and egalitarianism. It lies at the very heart of American self-image, and rightly so. Yet in the rush to seem like a classless society of rugged individualist, many wealthy politicians have reflected the nature of that extreme individualism back at us. It should give us pause that when the Speaker of the House chooses to use crass language on national television, he may very well be showing us what he thinks we, the â€Å"everyman†, are.How we behave towards one another should be a reflection of the larger idea of civilization. Yet todays politicians choose to behave like boorish buffoons. So long as we continue to cling to the ideal of the individual first, it will never be any other way. Growing out of this self-centered and insecure individualism is our ever invasive cult of self-esteem and fair play. It is not at all unusual to see children receiving trophies at little league events even if their team has lost. Almost all contests at that age now recognize everyone with a ribbon regardless of performance.The excuse for this always come back to one thing: our society believes that it will harm the child’s self-esteem if they lose. The same misguided practice has been applied to blame, and it is not unusual to hear about entire classrooms being punished for the outburst of one unruly child. Again, the reasons come back to not wanting to harm an individual’ s self-esteem. Ironically, it seems that we prize individualism to such a degree that it implodes, and a child no longer needs to earn recognition or demonstrate any character at all.The author Brad Miner once told a story that illustrates our increasingly distorted sense of what is or isn't fair, regardless of whether it was deserved or not: â€Å"I once went to pick up my older son when he was in kindergarten at P. S. 87 in Manhattan. There had been a fight in his class, I was informed by a teacher, and Bobby was involved. â€Å"Who started it? † I asked. The teacher looked at me with sheer loathing. â€Å"I don't think that matters,† she said coldly. I smiled, wishing I had more Zen calm or stoicism. â€Å"But of course it matters,† I said. â€Å"Why?So we can lay blame? † â€Å"That's part of it. After all, there's a big difference between aggression and self-defense. Or do you want them all to be little Gandhi's? † â€Å"Don't you? † S he asked incredulously. â€Å"No. I want my sons to be little Galahads. † (Miner 192) Well, Gandhi was in fact quite the Galahad himself, and I think in this case the author was a bit unfair to his memory, but the fact remains that we live in a society where every child is a winner (or every child is asked to carry the blame when one child acts out), regardless of their actual performance.Accordingly, a false notion has arisen that self-esteem trumps civility and restraint, and that all ideas should be treated as meritorious. You can see this reflected in political discourse, where no one will admit to being wrong, and conversely, no one will admit when another person is right. Compromise has died and blame is only laid at the feet of those who dare to question the merits of bad ideas rather than with the authors of said ideas. Self-esteem is far from an inborn right. It is something to be cultivated by one’s actions.Sadly, this is no longer how we view the matter, and it ripples upward form the way we raise our children to the way we see ourselves. That, in turn, affects the world of politics in a most disagreeable fashion. But there is hope that the trend will reverse itself. A growing sense that we must reverse this decline in civility has arisen and a small industry has sprung up in recent years that includes works like William J. Bennett’s Book of Virtues, Amitai Etzioni’s The New Golden Rule, and and Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Demoralization of Society: Life From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (Masci 244).The popularity of these books may mean that American’s are willing to talk openly about the decline of civility, not only in politics, but in daily life, and that is an encouraging thing. I hope it reaches the ears of the Speaker of the House. Works Cited Price, Tom. â€Å"Social Media and Politics. † CQ Researcher 12 Oct. 2012: 865-88. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. Miner, Brad. â€Å"Chivalry in a Democratic Ag e. † The Compleat Gentleman: The Modern Man's Guide to Chivalry. [S. l. ]: Richard Vigilante, 2009. 192. Print. Masci, David. â€Å"Civic Renewal. † CQ Researcher 21 Mar. 1997: 241-64. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.

Titration Curve of Amino Acids

tion Experiment 1 Titration curves of amino acids General structure of amino acids (amphoteric type): Zwitter ion C * : ? – carbon : ? – amino acid NH2 : ? – amino group, basic (proton acceptor) COOH : ? – carboxylic group, acidic (proton donor) R : side chain of amino acid Classification of amino acids depending on the nature of side chain: * Neutral * Basic amino acid : with extra amino group (NH2) in its side chain ( histidine, arginine, lysine ) * Acidic amino acid : with extra carboxylic acid group (COOH) in its side chain (aspartic acid & glutamic acid) * With phenol group in its side chain (Tyrosine) * With sulfide group in its side chain (Cysteine) Isoelectric point (pI): It is the pH at which the net charge on the molecule in solution is zero (Zwitter ion). Zwitter ion will not migrate in electric field, it is electrically neutral. pI is the average of the closest values of pKa’s. The pI for the acidic amino acids is the average of pKa1 an d pKa2, while the pI for basic amino acids is the average of pKa2 and pKa3 pKa range for ? COOH ( 1. 71 – 2. 63 ) pKa range for ? – NH3+ ( 8. 8 – 10. 78 ) Acidity of neutral amino acid ? – COOH > ? – NH3+ For weak acids : Henderson – Hasslbalch equation : pH = pKa + log [ A- ] [HA] When [ A- ] = [HA] pH = pKa Acid- base titration: An experiment in which a measured amount of base ( or acid) are added to a measured amount of acid ( or base) to calculate something unknown such as molarity, pH†¦.. etc.Equivalence point: The point at which an acid is exactly neutralized with a base. Inflection point: The point in an acid- base titration at which 0. 5 mole of base has been added to one mole of acid to achieve [ A- ] = [HA] and then ; pKa = pH Example : Inflection points 0. 5 1 1. 5 2 * Alanine is an example on neutral amino acid which has 2 acidic protons (diprotic acids ) ? – COOH and ? – NH3+ , these neutral amino acids have t wo titration curves.Net charge +1 0 -1 Zwitter ion Titration curve of Alanine: * aspartic acid is an example on acidic amino acid which has 3 acidic protons (triprotic acids ) ? – COOH, ? – NH3+ and R- COOH. Acidic amino acids have three titration curves. Acidity of acidic amino acid ? – COOH > R- COOH > ? – NH3+ Net charge +1 0 -1 -2 Zwitter ionTitration curve of aspartic amino acid * Lysine is an example on basic amino acid which has 3 basic protons (triprotic acids ) ? – COOH, ? – NH3+ and R- NH3+. Basic amino acids have also three titration curves. Acidity of basic amino acid ? – COOH > ? – NH3+ > R- NH3+ Net charge +2 +1 0 -1 Zwitter ion Tiration curve of Lysine Method : at low pH ~ 1 – 1. 3 amino acid is fully protonated.